This is what a breadmaker should be. The Panasonic SD-YD250 does everything automatically that *you* don't want to be doing when making bread every day for your family or friends. The best feature is the extended 13-hour timer, which not only allows you to set the ingredients to be ready for breakfast, but allows you to do it while you're already in the kitchen making dinner the previous night (rather than at midnight, in the dark, when everyone else is asleep, which means that it *still* feels like a chore). The recipes included with the machine are fabulous, and for anyone who has never had a bread machine, don't miss out on the plethora of recipes online. Use 'breadmaker' in your Google search and you'll find lots of yummy stuff out there, designed for generic bread-machines. We read several online reviews before making the considerable payment on this machine, but it seems as if we'll never be buying shop-made bread again. Nor will we use the alarm clock -- the smell of freshly-baked bread in the morning can't be beaten as a painless wake-up call! Several of the reviewers out there speak of having had this machine for years and years, in daily use. Certainly, I spend no more than 10 minutes each evening putting in the ingredients for our favourite recipe (a delicious soft multi-grain). 10 stars **********